The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
SOCIAL CLIMBING
Outdoor adventure program creates communities, tests endurance of participants
Alot of businesses and community groups have had to suspend or cancel activities in recent months, but there’s one place that’s always open — the outdoors. at’s fortunate for Kanto Adventures founder and lead instructor David Nieho , who has run his business organizing hiking, trekking, mountain climbing, snow-shoeing and skiing trips since 2012.
It’s also good for people who might be missing social interaction, especially if they’re avoiding enclosed spaces like cafes and bars, because community is central to this outdoor recreation business operating mainly — though not exclusively — in the Kanto region.
“e majority of people on any trip, they’re all repeats or regulars. So coming into a trip where everybody already knows each other, the atmosphere is very comfortable,” Nieho told e Japan News in an interview this month.
“And beyond just everybody knowing each other … as people start coming more and more we start trying to push them towards bigger challenges. at’s also part of how we keep people involved long-term.” For people from overseas looking to discover a di erent side of Japan or push themselves in di erent terrain, Kanto Adventures takes out the language barrier and logistical challenges. Nieho has professional quali cations and experience in everything from kayaking to ice climbing, and being uent in Japanese, he can handle things like notifying the police about an o -season climb.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, much of his work, along with another instructor, was taking people up and down Mt. Fuji in the o -season — last year he summitted 29 times. While the loss of short-term visitors from overseas has forced him to take on a second job in forestry, he was able to restart weekend trips in June a er a three-month pause.
With an abundance of caution, Nieho and his team have created guidelines based on those from a Swiss outdoor association, basically creating a bubble for each trip. Participants are limited to six people to ensure safe distance while traveling, everyone must wear a mask in the van, and there are no stop-o s at hot springs, restaurants or local shops en route.
Usually Nieho gets a mix of both foreign residents and Japanese people. When he started the business, he and his wife — who is also the o ce manager — marketed trips in both English and Japanese. But they rarely got bookings through the Japanese site, so they switched to an English-only registration process.
Yet Nieho estimates 40% to 50% of his participants are Japanese. Some speak excellent English and some don’t. Some expats who join speak Japanese uently and some don’t. So what brings all of these people together on a Kanto Adventure, especially when some of them can easily access information on more obscure climbing routes or join a Japanese-language hike?
“I think a lot of Japanese people come along because they like the international atmosphere, versus what it’s like to go on a typical Japanese hiking tour, with larger groups and everybody following the leader very closely and not really getting to know each other because groups tend to be quite big,” Nieho said. And the expats?
“Some people speak great Japanese, or they’ve got the skills to do this stu on their own, but I’m setting things at a price point where it’s comparable or sometimes cheaper than going yourself via public transport,” he explained. “And then there’s no thinking involved. You’ve got someone else taking care of all the logistics, and you have a little more exibility if things go bad.”
Nieho ’s attitude toward guiding people through the great outdoors is right there in the business name — when I mention tours, he corrects me. “We don’t use the word tour,” he says. “Our trips are adventures.”
And adventurers of all skill levels are welcome, from beginner hikers to experienced climbers. Although Nieho has a lot of personal experience in rugged terrain, he gets the most reward out of seeing people gain strength and con dence.
“To see the satisfaction and joy people get out of actually accomplishing something that half a year or two years before they didn’t think would ever be possible for them, I think I get the most out of that, personally. at’s what motivates me,” he said.
To illustrate his point, he mentions a friend who rst started joining trips three years ago.
“When she started out, she couldn’t go to the toilet outside, she pretty much had to be told to do everything, and she was quite slow and not strong. And now she’s a super strong hiker. She’s developed a lot of con dence. She’s told me many times that she’s not worried if, you know, the power’s out and there’s a big disaster. I guess she’s picked up a lot of con dence and skills.”
“We’ve had some people go o and start doing their own pretty big adventures, going into the Himalaya and stu ,” he added. “I guess they kind of graduate.” He also takes a group to Europe every summer, to experience a di erent landscape. “It also gives people something to push for, and [the trips] tend to get harder and harder every year.”
To accommodate hikers and climbers of any level, Nieho switches between lower-level and higher-level trips. is writer joined a pleasant hike up Shichimen-zan in Yamanashi Prefecture in March, where we slept overnight in a temple and watched the sun rise behind Mt. Fuji. at was rated a 1B, but his trips can go as high as a 3D, which involve elevation gain, rocky traverses and securing climbers with ropes at dangerous points.
Nieho hails from North Carolina, and he was at university studying computer science when he discovered the outdoors as a career.
“I got quite overweight and lazy and to counter that I took a class called Introduction to Outdoor Adventure, and I discovered there was another path,” he said. “So, before even nishing that semester I ended up leaving school, applying to an outdoor education program and basically just changed course completely.”
A er coming to Japan 13 years ago for a short-term contract and discovering the mountains here, he stayed, working as an instructor for a military recreation program on a U.S. Navy base.
Nowadays he lives with his family “on top of a mountain in Saitama Prefecture, right where the Tokyo suburbs end and the mountains begin.”
It’s a good spot for a dedicated mountaineer. “Draw a three-hour circle around Tokyo and you’ve got stu to keep you busy for 30 years,” he said.
“You can do pretty much anything in Japan, outdoor recreation-wise. [Especially] winter mountaineering, there’s a huge range of stu from beginners to world-class ultra-advanced alpine climbing here.”